Mrs Mitchell, 68, from Berwick, joined other members of the anti-nuclear group Trident Ploughshares to protest outside the base in Faslane, Glasgow.

She was arrested after a day of peaceful protest with campaigners linking arms, blowing whistles and bashing drums. She spent seven hours in police cells before being charged with breach of the peace and released on bail.

Retired headteacher Mrs Mitchell has been detained several times in the past for similar stunts and had packed a book to read in the cells.

She said: "It's been a long day, but a worthwhile one. I was arrested, as usual, but I don't mind. I've got time to go to prison, so why not?

"Anything that helps me publicise a cause in which I believe so passionately is worth it, as far as I'm concerned."

Mrs Mitchell, leader of St Aidan's Peace Church in Berwick, believes the Government is wasting billions of pounds on nuclear submarines in Glasgow, a city with seriously deprived areas.

She said: "I cannot understand how people can say they are Christian and then make weapons that kill people.

"When I was young, I realised I had to choose between giving up my faith and becoming a Christian pacifist."

Protesters are planning to remain at the base until tomorrow.

Trident Ploughshares' Tyneside co-ordinator, Andrew Gray, said: "Our aim is to stop work at the base for three days as a symbol of our disapprovement that weapons of mass destruction are kept by our Government."

More than 500 people have been arrested in two blockades at the Faslane base in the past year.